Protectors of the Annex
by pmart4826
Summary: Stef Cikojevic was just a normal Canadian girl invited to a camp by her Gamer friends known as the Annex. However she soon finds out that the fate of America's future is based on how well the Annex is run. When someone steals the money generated from the camp, Stef and her friends go on an adventure, and at all costs, try to gain the money back and save America before its too late.
1. First Day

Protectors of the Annex

First Day

"Hey Steffy, wake up! We're almost there!"

My eyes opened slowly as I looked at my brother Danny nudging me like an older brother typically does: annoying and aggressively. He had a very anxious look on his face as we pulled up near our new home.

"You guys got your IDs?" Tommy asked as he drove his pink truck towards the security gate, his green eyes fixed on the road. His truck was bright pink, which I find absolutely hysterical. The others told me that last month, Tristan and Denecia spray painted his truck as a "Welcome to the Annex" prank. I'm pretty sure my brother and I will wake up with a whoopi cushion or pink hair in the morning. Oh boy.

"Yeah I do." I replied. I pulled my ID out of my purse, (which I don't understand why I have, but it was a gift from my mom as we left, and I couldn't say no to mommy). Danny flashed his, and we handed them to Tristan as he scanned them out the passenger window. The light flickered green, and the giant gate in front of us slowly opened, revealing the place I would soon meet my fellow gamers who Id played with, but never met in person.

Let me bring you up to speed. Hi! I am Stefanie Cikojevic; your typical 14 year old gamer/soccer player/tomboy that is Croatian-Canadian, and would be liked to be known as Stef (NOT STEFY). My brother Danny and I met these other kids while playing our favorite war game: Combat Squad. Apparently these kids stream themselves online, and generate money, from you know, YouTube. But here's the cool part: We have generated so much money from just us kids laughing and playing games, that the U.S government contacted each of us, and told us to come live in a secured series of homes with other kids like us known as the Annex. The Annex was created to help the struggling economy. We hesitated to join at first, but with the urging of the others we took it. Our parents finally said yes when the Annex overseer, Duncan Field, sent them a letter pretty much begging us to come down and how important we are and blah blah blah. They finally said yes when they've realized how much you Americans love us and needed our help. So yeah, that's how we ended up over here.

From what everybody told us, the Annex is pretty much like a camp, with cabins that distinguish the talents from everybody. Danny and I are a part of the Gamer Cabin, which is self-explanatory. Tommy and Tristan are a part of the Mechanics Cabin, and they apparently build not only cars but robots as well. They told me that things haven't really gone well with the robots, since one of their prototypes thought Tristan was "a threat" and threw him against his cabin. Ouch. Thank god all I got to do is play some video games, and hopefully my controller doesn't come to life or try to eat me or something.

Tommy, Tristan, and Denecia got our stuff, and led us towards the middle house. "I phoned ahead." Tristan said quietly. He doesn't really seem like the most social person. I mean the guy looked like a skater that just left a pot farm. He had emotionless brown eyes, and wore a Tony Hawk Snapback. "Cool!" I said. To be honest I was excited, I'm going to meet everybody in person for the first time ever! I wonder if their faces matched their personalities.

Denecia said, "They don't bite you guys. They're your new…uhh…family. Ha-ha" She flashed us both a real friendly smile and giggle. She was about my height, had caramel skin, and was wearing an Adventure-Time skullie. I liked her. She was really nice to us the entire way up. From what I remember when I played online with the others, is that not everybody will be this nice, but wishful thinking is all I could do right now.

Danny giggled as well, and I gave him a nice elbow to the arm for sounding really creepy. My brother can go from awesome-to-awkward in a flash. I love my brother and he is a really nice guy, but I wouldn't be surprised if he scares a couple of kids while were here.

We walked through the door that was labeled "Gamers' Cabin Hall" and boy I loved this place the moment I saw everything. There were 2 couches on both sides of the room, with HUGE TVs in front of them. There were also two stairways that were directly in front of us, and a kitchen to our left. I peered to the door next to the kitchen, and from the looks of things it had a pool in the backyard. But the best part: the pool had a giant Water Slide. It was the And the best part was, I got to live here now! Whoo!

My eyes caught 3 guys were playing a racing game on the right side TV. It must've been a close race because the youngest of the guys jumped out of his seat screaming "YEAH. I GOTCHU KARNAGE! 20 BUCKS BABY! PAY UP SUCKA!" He started to cheer obnoxiously, which didn't please the other guys. The boy next to him glared at him and said, "Jack, screw off! And please shut the hell up! You have been yelling all day!" Jack looked at the other boy, his smile quickly faded. "What!? Dude you've pulled this crap on me a bajillion times! " "Bajillion is not a word, dickhead!" As these two continued their argument, another boy, who looked a little older came down and stareway. When he saw us, his eyes widened and smiled, then yelled: "Hey everybody!" Stef and Danny are here!"

I blushed at being the center of attention, as the other once busy faces looked at us. Some yelled hello, some just glanced at us, and the rest didn't even move. The older boy came up and introduced himself. I smiled as I immediately guessed who it was.

"Hey Stef, Danny! I'm-"

I gave him a tight hug. This was the kindest of all the gang: P-Mart. P-Mart was the undisputed leader, the most fair, and the nicest person I've ever met (even if it was only a game when we talk, he always wanted to know about us, and never insulted all the gamer nerds out there. Everybody loved P-Mart, and P-Mart loved us. When I let him go, he had an "aww shucks" kind-of blush on his face, and smiled at me. "P-Mart!" I finished his sentence. He was 3 or 4 inches taller, had blue-green eyes, dark brown hair, and a Dallas Mavericks snapback.

"And look who this is! It's Dan the Man!" He said as he high fived and hugged my brother. Danny hugged him so tight he made P-Mart's face turn beet red. "Dan…air…." He managed to get out. Danny's a big guy, so when he hugs you, you might want to take in as much air as possible. P-Mart caught his breath and said, "Geez Danny, I would really hate to be your girlfriend with the way you hug." The two girls sitting on the other couch looked over at us and smiled. P-Mart led us over to them and introduced us to them and the two guys sitting with them.

"Hey look guys! Its Stef and Danny!" said the boy sitting closest to us. I knew who that was from his voice, which had a thick Mexican accent to it. "JJ!" I said happily. JJ was really weird, in a good way. He always said something random that either grossed you out, or laugh uncontrollably. He's known P-Mart all his life and the two of them have never had a disagreement, well except to when who gets the last kill in a game. He had black hair and was really skinny and would look like a criminal if he wasn't smiling all the time. He gave both of us a high-five and continued watching the show on TV.

"You guessed right Stef," P-Mart said. "And those two lovely ladies over there are your new roommates. That's Keaira, the biggest Belieber you will ever meet in your life. She LOVES all those heartthrobs. And please don't get her started on rap music and the Lakers." He pointed at the blonde girl sitting at the far end. She was listening to a song, messing with her diry-blonde hair, and lip-syncing "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber. She looked up at us, and flinched when she saw all of us looking at her. "Umm…hey, what's up…everybody?" I smiled weakly.

_Bieber. Rap. Lakers. So we have reached a score of zero on the similarities list. And this girl is my roommate? Oh boy. _

"Hey!" I forced myself a smile at her. I just think fangirls are really annoying, no offense to her.  
"This Stef?" She said unenthusiastically. She seemed REAL happy to see me too…..NOT. I nodded back, still trying to not look irritated. She just looked at me and nodded, and went back into her song. P-Mart looked at me, "Don't mind her Stef. She's pretty new too. I guess she hasn't gotten used to us yet." He smiled at me weakly, and pointed at the other girl on the other end of the couch.

"Hey sexy!" The girl said. I looked at her, kind of startled. She was very pretty; her caramel skin looking just like Denecia's and had really dark colored eyes. I thought she was talking to me so I mumbled out a "Umm… hey?" to her. Her grin slipped and said "Oh….not you. P-Mart! Did you find out when the Annex dance will be? And don't forget, its "guys ask girls" this time." She winked at him and smiled widely again.

In the four or so years I've played online with P-Mart, I've never seen him react to something that awkwardly. He stuttered, trying to politely reject her offer or change the subject. "Umm-w-well Amy-I-umm….hold that thought! Hey Stef why don't we get you acquainted with the rest of the group!?" P-Mart rushed me over there, and his face was flushed red. I just looked at him and laughed. "Don't worry prijatelj, I think Amy's kind of weird too." I winked at him, and he smiled. I am officially the killer of awkward moments. Everybody needs a friend like me.

The 2 boys that were arguing over the racing game earlier were now in each other's faces. "Bitch, we all know you won't do anything. Stop acting tough in front of everybody and pay me my 20 bucks you fucking faggot!" The younger one yelled at the other boy. He was being so loud that JJ looked over at P-Mart and gave a "what now" questioning look.

"Don't you think you are a little young to be swearing like that little boy?" The older one replied, surprisingly calm. I could tell he had been yelling himself since he had veins pretty much throbbing out of his neck. "You shouldn't yell so much in front of our new roommate." He gestured at me. "Hey Stef. Karnage is the name, the games are to blame." He smiled and held out his hand. I smiled and shook it.

"Hey Stef…..I'm Jack…," Jack said quietly. I could tell he was pissed off still, as he was staring at the ground and messing with his spiked up hair. I tried to respond as friendly as possible to make him feel better. "Nice to finally meet you Jack!" I said happily. He gave me a weak smile, and then headed up the boys-side stairs. "Don't worry about him Stef, he just needs to cool off. He'll be fine." Karnage responded, almost reading my thoughts as I watched Jack drag himself up the stairs.

P-Mart called for the last two guys on the far end of the couch; both of them looking pretty busy with something. "Hey fellas, Stef and Danny are here. You aren't going to leave a face like that hanging are ya?" I smiled and changed my expression to a puppy-dog face, but what I didn't know was that Danny stood behind me and made the ugliest face you could possibly imagine. He stared at the older guy, with his eyes-crossed, pedophile smile, and he was playing with his nipples. The rest of us were trying so hard not to laugh. The guy turned his head, and shrieked and flinched backward in fear. All of us lost it. I really wish I didn't laugh that hard, but when I saw him join in and give Danny a shake and a hug, I felt a sense of relief.

"Hey Steffy, look it's the other Danny!" my brother exclaimed. He smiled and shook my hand and said, "Good to finally see you guys! And please, call me Bolt. You know that's what the ladies love to hear."

"Yeah, totally." Amy replied sarcastically. Bolt laughed and said, "If you don't mind you guys, I'm going to go to the Mechanic's cabin and work on this bad boy!" He showed us what he was working on: a sketchbook that had a very well-drawn racecar with a lightning bolt and all the engineering stuff that goes with it. Bolt noticed our "wowed" expressions and responded, "Yeah this baby is going to be what I drive when we leave the Annex this summer. It's going to look great….unless you GIRLS make it look like Tommy's truck."

Denecia and Tommy had just walked into the door with our stuff when Bolt said that. Tommy looked at us and said "Ha…ha. Real funny you guys." Denecia started giggling until she saw Tommy's face, and then did her best to hide the laughing. He glared at her, and told my brother to follow him so he can show him his room. The two of them disappeared up the stairs, which left me, P-Mart, Denecia, and the other boy all standing in silence.

` The boy was just texting people, and I had noticed he hadn't looked up from his phone since we walked in. He then stood up and was heading for the door before he noticed us standing there. "Who's this?" He asked.

P-Mart must've felt the same awkward feeling I felt, because he stepped in and replied, "This is Stef, from Combat Squad Online! Stef, this is Z, our musically-gifted one." Z kinda smirked and said automatically, "Sup." Then he walked past us and left the cabin.

"Don't mind him," Denecia said. "He's probably just been homesick. Or he hasn't adjusted living here yet." I could tell she was trying to sound optimistic, and I liked it, however it just seemed kind of mean to not even acknowledge us. "Yeah, Z isn't really like this," P-Mart added.

I felt a little irritated. We've all known each other for at least three years and THAT was all he wanted to say to us. "Oh ok. So I should expect a whopping four words to come out of his mouth tomorrow?" I replied sarcastically. Both of them laughed.

P-Mart then turned to Denecia and said, "Hey, would you show our newest guest her room and bed?"

Denecia smiled at P-Mart and replied, "Yeah, I can do that!" She took my bag and lead me upstairs.

I spent the next 30 minutes unpacking my clothes and putting them away. I would've finished sooner if I wasn't so "OCD" of where everything went. However, the task is done, and you would absolutely be jealous of my perfect cabinet.

The other girls joined me in our room, probably because it was time to go to bed. My bed was the top-bunk above Keaira, and Amy and Denecia's bunk was across from us. None of us really said anything to each other for the first ten minutes, until Amy was kind enough to break the silence.

"P-Mart's kind of cute. JJ's good too, but P-Mart is a little cuter." We all kind of looked at her from the randomness of that. She looked back at all of us. "Well? Isn't he?"

I didn't say anything, like why should I? P-Mart just looks like….P-Mart. And JJ was…JJ. Ugh, I really didn't want to talk about the rest of guys, especially now. I'm just meeting these people and I can keep a secret just as well as the American Paparazzi. Nonetheless, the conversation continued, and I heard some interesting responses.

"Umm….he's ok." Denecia said, but I could tell she was as uncomfortable as I was.

"I've seen better," was all Keaira said, and then she put her headphones on and jammed out to her fangirl music.

"Bull, Denecia. You like, gawk all over him. You were staring at him when we were downstairs." Amy responded coldly.

"No I wasn't! Can we change the subject please!?"

"Tristan is FREAKEN hot man, like oh my god." Keaira responded, again out of nowhere. "I'm totally asking him to the banquet next week."

"Banquet?" I asked.

"Oh Stef! I didn't tell you! Every year the Annex hosts and honors the new recipients. They're honoring the Gaming Cabin this year, so wear something nice." Denecia told me.

Amy added, "It's also girls ask guys this year. I'm excited about the dance. I might ask P-Mart."

"Mmm…." Denecia snarled. She probably wanted to say more, but she didn't.

"Or…..I might ask Bolt. He's cute too. Plus he could drive me up there." She winked at us. "What about you Stef?"

"Dude, freaking Tristan man." Keaira blurted out. I mean, how could such a fangirl, be obsessed with Mr. Emotionless Skater? That's like….Barbie getting with Godzilla.

Keaira then turned and looked at me. "You didn't answer Tomboy. Who are you going to ask?"

"Yeah Stef." Amy pestered. "I mean, Karnage isn't that bad, or Tommy for that matter. Do you have a secret crush you like to share?" The teasing in her voice made me want to throw my phone at her. Of course I didn't but still, that's a great idea for next time.

In all seriousness though, I was really hoping she wouldn't ask me that. I don't even really know these guys, except for P-Mart. JJ too; those two I really got to learn their personalities over the years. I love those guys, but I don't….LIKE like them. Ugh, leave it to a flirt to make everything awkward.

"Umm…I don't know. I don't even know these guys, except when we played online together." I wanted to say as little as possible, so there's less to respond to.

"Yeah, same here." Denecia added. "There's still a whole week and a half, so I got time."

Amy looked at Denecia funny, knowing there was something she wasn't telling her. She looked at me the same way. I was expecting another cheeky/annoying response from her. Luckily, she yawned and just said tiredly, "Well you too need to figure it out. I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight!"

"Me too," Denecia said tiredly. "I hope we have lots of fun together Stef. Goodnight."

Well, today was interesting, if you take out the airplane, 2 hour drive, having to put everything away, and talk about my love life. I was going to really think about what we're going to do tomorrow, but my eyes got heavy, and I went to catch some Z's…and no, not Mr. Text-A-Lot.


	2. Gamer Galore

Gamer's Galore

I woke up the next morning all alone in my room. The other girls must've gone down for breakfast or something. I figured if there was free food around here, I might as well check it out. My stomach agreed.

As I got up out of bed, I noticed a little present on my shelf. Aww! That is so awesome! One day in and I already have a gift! My excitement took over as I ripped off the wrapping like a hyperactive 6 year old on Christmas morning. There was an orange T-Shirt that said "Annex: Home to the Brave, the Beasts, and The Badasses" with a picture of several cabins on the front, and on the back had a game controller that had the words "Gamer Cabin" intertwined with the controller. This shirt is so awesome! I threw it on, and it fit perfectly! I was about to run downstairs when I noticed that there was a card at the bottom of the box.

_**Hey Stef, You survived one day here! Congrats! As a token of your awesome survival skills, here is your very own Gamer Cabin T-Shirt! We all are really happy you and Danny are here now, that our whole online gang is here in person, and we look forward to having lots of fun together! – Amy, Z, Denecia, Bolt, Jack, Keaira, Karnage, JJ, and P-Mart.**_

After reading the card, all the anxiety I felt about trying to fit in went out the window. I mean here I was, at this "camp", with people that wanted me here, but not just anybody; all of the awesome people I met randomly playing a video game. And to be in this nice cabin, with all my friends and brother; I mean it doesn't get any better than this.

I ran downstairs to find Karnage and my brother talking to each other and eating cereal. Danny must've gotten his gift too, as he was also wearing his shirt. But more importantly, THERE WAS CEREAL! As they were talking, Danny pointed out where the bowls were, and I filled up my bowl with some Co-Co Puffs and joined the conversation.

Karnage looked at me and try to say "Morning Stef," but with all the cereal in his mouth it sounded more like "Moh-ing Hef." I chuckled and mimicked back, "Ood Moh-ing o you oo Arn-ege." He held in his laughter, afraid of shooting chocolate puffs right into my brother's face; which would've been extremely hilarious. He didn't however, and he swallowed and continued his and Danny's conversation.

"Don't worry about Z. He'll be a really fun partner." Karnage tried to say that optimistically, but from the look Danny gave him, Danny didn't believe it. The sad part is, Karnage sounded like he didn't believe that either. "I don't know anything about this guy. Why couldn't they pair me up with you?" Danny asked; his voice practically pleading.

"Because they partnered me up with Stef, and no offense bro, but I'll take my chances with your sis."

"Don't worry, I don't bite….hard." I added. Karnage glanced at me, and then laughed. I still didn't know what we were partnered up for, but I assumed it was for gaming. Hence our cabin name.

"In case you didn't know Stef, our cabin had been working on a version of Combat Squad where you go into the game virtually. This is what won us the Banquet Trophy, and all of us – including you and your bro – will be honored at the banquet next weekend. Even though you didn't actually invent the stuff, you guys were a part of the gaming group. And we can't leave anyone out….well maybe Jack. Or Z. And Amy too. Her constant flirting makes me want to drown myself in baby oil."

My brother and I both laughed. We were going to be…honored? For playing a video game? Man I've scored a bunch of game-winning kicks in soccer, but I was never…honored! Man, when I go back home, my coach and I need to have a serious chat.

"Wow." My brother awed. "And this virtual gaming ….we actually run around with guns and stuff?"

"Yep!" Karnage responded. "And we'll be playing Capture the Flag on there. That's why everybody gets a partner, and it's also elimination. So if you die, your games pretty much finished. And try to act like Billy-Badasses, since this will be streamed all over YouTube. This is how we've generated all this money, from people watching our videos."

"Wow. That's amazing!" I exclaimed. We make money from playing games and people watching us? That is so freaken awesome! I still was curious about what the teams were, since we haven't done any of this stuff before.

"What are the teams Karnage?" I asked.

Karnage thought about it for a moment then responded, "Well, it's me and you; we are Purple Team."

"Sweet!" I added. Purple was like, the best color ever, and if you disagree, you are stupid.

"P-Mart and JJ are on a team. Green I think." Pfft, that didn't surprise me at all. Those two have known each other since the beginning of time, plus green was both of their favorite colors.

"Then there's Bolt and Amy; they are Team Yellow." _Hmm…Bolt and Amy? Ehh…we'd handle them._

"Jack and Keaira, and they are Blue. Let's see how long they last." He quipped. "Whoever made these teams obviously wanted those two to lose, since on one hand you have a pompous loud mouth that wants to win so badly, and then the other is someone who really doesn't care if they win or lose. Boy, Jack is going to give Keaira a bunch of headaches today." I couldn't have summed it up better myself.

"And finally, Z and Danny. You guys are Team Orange. Good luck man."

"I'm certainly going to need it, since I'm paired with Mr. Personality." Danny rolled his eyes. Just then a booming voice came from outside. It sounded like it was coming from a speaker.

** Attention Gamer Cabin! Please report to the Gazebo! Thank you very much!**

"We better get moving you guys." Karnage said as he headed to the door. "On our way there, I can kind of give you guys the full tour, at a discounted price." He cheeked. Danny smiled at me and we followed him out the door.

I never realized how many cabins there were at the Annex. 15, at least. There was the Music Cabin, Art Cabin, Theatre Cabin, Poetry Cabin, Athletes Cabin, and so many more. We walked by the Mechanics Cabin, and I waved at Tommy and Tristan, who were working on Tommy's pink truck. I chuckled at the funny picture of these two guys dressed in skater clothes working on Barbie's Dream Car. As we were walking along, there was one cabin that didn't even look like a cabin, more like a mansion. There was a guard standing outside of it, and the look he gave us gave me chills. I looked over at Karnage and asked him. "Which cabin is that one, if it is even a cabin?"

"That's the Weapons Cabin. Duncan Field's son is the only member of it, and that's because he cried about being over here, and he didn't mesh well with a lot of other cabins. His interest in weapons is the only reason why he's still here. He tries to make it sound like he only wants to be here with his Daddy-O, but we all know he just a try-hard who wants everybody to bow down before him. The guards are the stupid people that actually listen to him." He gestured toward the top window of the mansion, and pointed at the kid staring at us.

I'm pretty sure that kid must've felt like a creepy idiot (which he really seemed like he was) because when he noticed us looking at him, he got wide-eyed and ran off. Karnage and I looked at each other; his face looked as uncomfortable as mine.

"Umm….I am not going to lie. That was actually pretty creepy. Red is kind of weird." Karnage admitted.

"Red?" I asked.

"Yeah. If you didn't see, he has really, REALLY red hair. I think his real name is Richard or something, but since I don't know for sure, I just call him Red. I know Bolt and JJ call him that too. He's bad news." Karnage replied, with a little more seriousness in his voice for that last sentence.

We finally made it to the gazebo and found the others all sitting around in a circle. The chairs were all marked with a color, and I knew that everybody was sitting at their team color seat. Karnage and I found our spots where the seats were purple, as did Danny who sat next to Z.

"Hello Stef, Danny, and Karnage. Glad you could make it!" P-Mart said, beaming at all of us.

"It took you guys long enough." Amy said coldly.

"Yeah for real, I mean I know Karnage loves his donuts and stuff, but c'mon man, think about the rest of us!" Jack sneered.

"Well actually, the reason why were late is that Danny and I just got done having turns with your Mom." Karnage responded. There was a collective "OHHH" yell by mostly everyone, except Jack, who just muttered a quiet "Wow." Even the ever-so-modest Bolt just shook his head and snickered. P-Mart couldn't hold back a laugh either, until he pointed out we needed to get started.

I noticed there was also some machine in the middle that looked like a giant PlayStation. But where the controllers go didn't have controllers; it had helmets that extended out to the seats. It couldn't be….

"Ok everyone, we better get started before we are late with the Stream," P-Mart said, his voice calm and serious. "You are going to put on the helmets and we shall be the very first people to play a video game virtually. So try and sound a little excited for the viewers."

"Yeah, Z!" Keaira replied. Z shot a glare at her, then he put on his helmet, as did the rest of us.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was all white around me, until I saw a golden menu appear above my head. I was in a customization menu; the one you would be in if you were playing Sims or something. Only difference is, THIS awesome girl is on the menu, and not sitting at home, bored of her mind on her laptop!

I saw the options menu, and get this, I pointed towards clothing, and the icon flashed as if I clicked it! I won't give all the details, but they had virtually every kind of clothing that's ever been worn…..ever! I decided I would wear a black ninja suit with a soccer styled helmet, (oh yeah, badass right?)

"Stef, you done yet? Everybody else is ready to go." Karnage asked, but I had no idea where his voice came from.

"Umm…yeah I guess? What do I do to get out of this menu?" I asked.

"There's a purple button on your belt. Click it and you will go to the battlefield. Meet you there. I am very curious as to what you are wearing." He cheeked.

"Yeah of course you are." I rolled my eyes and clicked the button. My surroundings changed and I was standing next to Karnage. His costume was a soldier's uniform

A timer appeared above our heads counting down from 30. Then my friends and I will be off trying to kill each other in order to get a flag. You know the typical thing friends do on a sunny day.

"So all we have to do is capture the flag?" I asked.

"Yup."

"And try to avoid getting shot at by our friends?"

"Check."

"And if we get shot, we lose and get embarrassed in front millions of YouTube watchers, right?"

"Yep. That pretty much sums it up." Karnage looked at me with a blank expression. I couldn't say the same.

"Oh…lovely."

The timer ticked down, and the game began. I looked around, and saw Karnage run off into a forest. He must've had some idea of a plan, and since I had no earthly clue where we were or where we were going, I followed him. He slid behind a tree, and I would love to say I did the same thing, but it was more like a stumble than a slide.

"Hmm…" Karnage seemed focus. "Well, it is extremely quiet up here. They are expecting us to make the first move. Oh….Bolt…you sly motherfucker…."

I was trying to listen for any idea of what we should do, but Karnage just kept muttering to himself as if he was a war vet.

"Karnage? What the hell are you babbling about? Do you have any idea of what we should do right now?"

He flinched, as if he completely forgotten as if I was there. Then his face got extremely serious, and said, "Stef, we might not make it out of this. These people, they are ruthless. Not only will they find us, but kill us. Just like that." He snapped his fingers.

"Dude, what the hell are you talking about? You really need to tone down the "Billy Badass" routine because I'm seriously confused." I honestly thought about just running into the forest doing my best of dodging the attacks and hopefully grabbing the flag in the process. I mean what could be more Billy Badass than that?

We snuck around pretty well through the trees until we saw a lake. And get this, as we got a little closer we noticed something really close to the bottom; a white flag. Pfft, too easy. I started walking towards the water when Karnage pulled me back. As he did it, 3 arrows whizzed over our heads. We hid behind a fallen log.

"Are you out of your freaking mind!?" He snapped at me. "They are just waiting for someone to walk up to the flag and then shoot em before they grab it. You haven't forgotten all our games on Combat Squad have you?"

I hadn't thought of that. "No….I guess not. But how come they get weapons and we don't? That isn't fair!"

"We do have weapons; A bow-and-arrow and spears. We haven't figured how to make real guns on here yet. Check your pack."

I didn't even know I had a pack, and he was right; the weapons were all there.

Karnage said, "Look I'm going to try and maneuver around and draw their fire. Get the arrow ready and fire when you see someone."

"_Ahh… Damn it Bolt…You got me you lucky bastard!" _A voice sounded close but I couldn't tell where it came from. It was JJ's. I guessed when your person dies, everybody can hear you.

"_No no no no NO! Shit!" _ It was Danny. _"This would've been nice if Z would've not randomly quit on me!"_

JJ sounded shocked. "_What do you mean he quit on you? Like he just left or something?"_

"_Yeah! He just said gotta go, and just left me alone."_

"_Hmm…" _JJ sounded pretty surprised. _"Let's tell P-Mart after this games over."_

If I had a dollar for every time someone had said that, I would be one rich girl. P-Mart is the master of diffusing a situation. Whether it's over the game, an argument, whatever it is, P-Mart just knows how to fix it.

I heard noise coming into the bushes, so I got my spear ready, and what I saw I did not see coming: Jack. And not just Jack, it was Jack in a ballerina tutu.

You see, I have seen a lot of things in my life, and I also have a pretty good sense of humor, but seeing Jack, (who is a big guy for his 12 year old self) in something my 4 year old cousin would wear, it completely threw me off. He flinched when he saw me, and for that moment everything seemed to stand still; the two of us looking at each other, spears in our hands. I knew I waited too long, because he charged at me, and stabbed me with his spear. I was out of the game.

I flashed out of the game, and saw myself back in the circle. JJ and Danny weren't wearing their helmets, and Z's chair was empty. I just kind of sat there and talked to those guys as more and more people died. Eventually the game ended, with Jack and Keaira being the winners. Apparently I wasn't the only one thrown off by Jack's tutu. He killed pretty much everybody and since they were all focused on him, Keaira just snuck to the flag and took it.

After we played about 7 or 8 times, we realized we had been there for 5 or 6 hours and were pretty hungry. So we went to the cafeteria to grab some grub. I really didn't know where to sit, so I just found a place where there were plenty of chairs around me. I guess I did the right thing when some of the others joined me at the table. I looked over at P-Mart, who seemed pretty excited and talking to JJ. I joined into the conversation.

"Really Dude!? That many viewers!? That's awesome!" JJ shouted.

"How many viewers did we get? A million? 2?" I asked.

"Better."

As he said this, the rest of the group glanced at P-Mart. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"5 million? 10 million? 20 million?" We all practically yelled at him. From what JJ told me, the most watched of our streams was 20. And that's over a period of a couple months.

P-Mart took his cap off and started to adjust it. He usually does this when he's about to say something detailed.

"About 2 weeks ago, before you and your brother joined the Annex Stef, all of us worked together with the Mechanics and Science Cabins on inventing a console that used virtual reality, which is what we did. Mr. Field said he would have a lot of important people watch our stream; a lot of international people. I didn't tell you guys this because I wanted you guys to just be yourselves, like any other stream."

_Makes sense, _I thought.

P-Mart went on, "Well as you all know, we generate 1 dollar per view during the actual stream. After the stream ends we stop generating money. It's why we're here; to give a lot of this money to the U.S Government to help our terrible economy and make things on our families back home a little easier." He looked over at JJ, then at Tommy; the guys that grew up with P-Mart. His blue eyes were filled with sadness, and I wanted to ask what the matter was, but we went on.

"I looked up how many people were watching as we played. It was 200 million people. Meaning this baby right here has 200 million dollars and counting on it." He held up a flash drive looking thing called the E-CARD.

Everybody's jaw dropped. Was that even possible? 200 MILLION!? Oh my god.

P-Mart went on to explain that once a stream stops generating money, he takes the E-CARD filled with the generated dollars and transfers the money to the U.S government, which is what they use to make real money then that goes to the people. He said the Annex has raised over 50 billion dollars in one year.

"You must feel real proud of yourself don't you?" A voice shot from behind us. We turned and saw it was that Red kid that was staring at me and Karnage when we walked to the Gazebo. He had a sarcastic smirk on his face.

"What do you want Richard?" P-Mart asked him. He then, "Listen man, we've been over this, you can't join. I know that's what you're going to ask that. It's a no. Please stop bugging me."

"For real. Just go away bro. You are really starting to get on our nerves." Bolt said.

Red's smirk was replaced an angry snarl. His eyebrows narrowed, and he charged towards our table and shoved Bolt right into Amy. Bolt stormed up, and just like that, a fight broke out.

P-Mart and Karnage broke up the scuffle and stood between the two. "You guys need me goddamn it! I'd make this group so much more mainstream than the piece of shit people you have now!"

"This 'piece of shit' group just raised 200 million dollars in ONE stream!" Bolt snapped. His eyes were full of anger. "What have you done with your worthless self-other than cry to your daddy that your spoiled self isn't happy? We actually are making a difference. You are selling weapons to creepy ass people to make money for yourself you selfish prick!"

"You're fucking lying! There's no way you raised that money." Red responded, ignoring the rest of what Bolt said.

"Guys enough!" Karnage said. "You two leave each other alone. And Red, please fuck off. You will not be in our cabin, not be considered to be here, and you will NOT try to talk shit with us because we will all beat the shit out of you! You understand me!?"

Red glared at him. "Fuck you." He looked at P-Mart and ran off.

"You ok Amy?" Bolt asked; the anger in his eyes changed to concern.

"Yeah I'm good." Amy then looked into Bolt's eyes. "Hey Daniel? Can I talk to you alone for a moment pleased?" Amy asked. She looked at us and motioned us to the cafeteria door. I knew what she was going to do, so I led everybody outside.

We all waited outside playing wall-ball with the Athletic Kids. Jack that entire game was talking mess about how awesome he was at Combat Squad, so I'm pretty sure the others would peg him extra hard if he had to run to the wall. We played for about 30 minutes until we noticed Amy walking back to the cabin. She smiled and winked at us. Bolt then ran out and cheered.

"You seem real happy! What did Amy want?" I asked, though I was 90% sure of what she wanted.

"I got a date to the banquet!" Bolt yelled. How surprising.

We all gave him a mix of high-fives and chest bumps as we headed back to the cabin. I really hadn't thought about when Amy had said about….ASKING somebody to the banquet. She probably was going to bug me about it, but I didn't care. The first thing I have to worry about is finding something to wear….but it's all good. I got one whole week to figure it all out.


	3. An Afternoon Away

An Afternoon Away…

Well, I am freaking out now! The banquet is in four days and I still don't have anything! So much for the whole "I got plenty of time" attitude; look well that worked out.

I guess I better recount the last three days, and kind of bring you up to speed. We spent a lot of our time streaming, and we reached one billion dollars yesterday. I still haven't adjusted to talking about millions and billions of dollars. Three weeks ago I thought finding a dollar's worth of change in my pocket was a success.

The streams themselves were very fun to play. I mean, who wouldn't want to kill their friends in a virtual reality setting where you can any way you look and put yourself into really awesome situations. Jack's tutu trick didn't work this time, and he and Keaira didn't win one round this week. I got used to everyone's costumes, which made the games for me a lot easier. Jack and Karnage stayed in theirs, and the others costumes were pretty good, except for a few. JJ's costume made him look like the Mexican Sonic the Hedgehog. Bolt looked like Optimus Prime: Bolt Version. Amy made hers look like a badass anime character with vampire fangs and crazy hair. And my brother was an ancient Gladiator warrior guy. These were my favorites.

The others were kind of disappointing. I mean the options had literally every single type of clothing, and they still couldn't find anything original. Z dressed exactly like the superhero Flash, and put the letter "Z" where the lightning symbol was; totally unoriginal. Keaira dressed into a black and silver jumpsuit that had pictures of Bieber on her shoulders and belt buckle; fangirl strikes again. However P-Mart's costume was the worst. You know what he did? He made his character wear his trademark gray jacket and jeans with a Dallas Mavericks snapback. Really dude? He wears that pretty much every day. You would think with every possible clothing option out there he would make himself look like a warrior guy, but no! He decided to look like…P-Mart. How original.

I met Mr. Field in person a couple of nights ago. He seems to be a pretty cool guy; despite the fact his son is a total prick. Mr. Field purposely avoids any subject manner about Red though, which is pretty much the only reason I don't him.

Red still has been causing trouble for us. During one of our streams he tried yanking off Karnage's helmet while we were playing, and Karnage rewarded him with a nice punch in the mouth. Since then when we pass by his mansion, he always stares at us, in that same creepy way he did when I first saw him. I swear he really needs to change his approach when it comes to making friends, because his angry face and cold stares really aren't that all appealing.

He isn't the only one acting weird. The past two days we were streaming, Z left early again. Even weirder: my brother has left early both days too. What has gotten into those guys? I swear some people have the attention span of a rodent.

Back to today, we decided that whoever doesn't have nice clothes for the banquet would go up to the nearest mall to get some. Denecia, myself, Keaira, P-Mart, Jack, Tristan and Karnage were those lucky people. Money wasn't an issue; after all the clothes would cost around 750 bucks at max, and we just happened to have a modest billion dollars to spend. I think we'd be ok financially.

"Ok everybody. I will be back in three hours, so around 6-ish. Try to make yourselves look sexy. I can't cover for all of us ya know?" Tommy cheeked. He drove us over to the nearest town with a mall, and for the entire way up there, he and Keaira were rapping Lil Wayne songs non-stop. If that drive was 10 minutes longer I would've thrown Fangirl and him out the window. Luckily for them, it wasn't.

"Yeah, but you can cover me an actual seat next time." Karnage snapped. His usual messy hair was even more messy due to the wind. Because there were only six seats, Karnage was forced to sit in the back of the pickup, and going 70 on the freeway probably wasn't the safest idea, and in Karnage's case, not the most fun experience either.

We decided that us girls would try on stuff and the guys would decide if the dress is good or bad. I could tell Jack wanted to run over to GameStop, but since P-Mart told him we'd buy him a game if he stays and rates, he reluctantly stayed put.

Keaira decided to go first. Her third dress had a spaghetti strap dress that was sapphire blue and stopped just before her knees. It was really pretty. She also tied back her blonde hair into a bun, which made her look better with it, than her normal straight hair.

"Not bad Fangirl! That looks really good."

"Ok that is definitely a good one. 10/10 from me," P-Mart said, giving her a thumbs up.

"It really brings out your eyes, that specific color is perfect for you." Jack added. We all kind of looked at him funny; he actually seemed interested. I think he just got himself a new game with that line.

"Solid," Tristan muttered. Keaira's eyes met mine and she mouthed to me "Oh my god!" Thank god Tristan said only one word because if he said more, Keaira would've passed out right then and there. I think Keaira has found her Banquet dress.

Denecia went next. She was in the changing room for quite a while, but I could tell she was changing in and out of different dresses. She finally found one she liked, and it she looked magnificent. It was a nice formal silk dress that was bright pink. She looked great. She shot all of us a bashful grin and asked "Well?"

"That is so pretty! Oh my god Denecia! You look amazing!" Keaira shouted.

"I second that," Karnage added. "You look awesome Denecia."

"Third," Tristan said softly.

She smiled at us and said shyly, "What do you think P-Mart?"

We were waiting for P-Mart to give one of his typical "P-Mart" compliments, but instead he mumbled out something that sounded like "Uh-duh". His face went beet red, and lowered his head so his snapback covered his face.

"I think that means he likes it! And why shouldn't he? You look like a model!" Jack said happily. You know for a 12 year old, Jack really did know how to sweet-talk girls. Apparently back in Florida he was considered a "player." (But that's according to Jack. He's also said that he in his past life was a vegetable, so it's very difficult to believe some of the things he says.) Either way the sweet-talking is going to become really adorable or really annoying in a couple years.

Denecia just giggled and said, "Well I guess this will be my dress then. Thanks you guys! Especially you P-Mart." She winked at him. P-Mart looked up and smiled at her, his face still red. Poor P-Mart. Captain Awkward just came up and slapped him in the face. Trust me, he's found me a couple times since I've been up here.

I just want to say, that I HATE dressing up. My version of dressing up is tucking in my soccer jersey on my way to practice. When our family would go to church, I usually just wore a Polo shirt and jeans. In fact, the last time I wore a dress was my piano recital when I was 7. From that moment on I realized how much I never wanted to wear a dress again. But this banquet was important, and I will be getting an award shown to millions of people, so this once I'll try to look better than normal.

I finally found a dress I felt comfortable in, which also had matching high heels with it. (Ugh talking about all this stuff makes me nauseas.) It was also a spaghetti strap leather dress that was bright purple. The length wasn't that bad; it went a couple inches above my knees. I looked in the dressing room mirror. I looked…..nice. I liked it, but I hated it at the same time. Nonetheless, I stepped out, not knowing how to really show it off.

"Aww Stef! You look stunning! You should definitely stick with that one!" Denecia squealed. I gave a shy grin. You know I am really starting to think she's taking the lead for "Favorite Person at the Annex Award."

"Seriously Stef, purple is definitely your color." Jack chuckled.

"You look awesome Stef!" P-Mart added. "I wonder how many numbers you'll get by the end of the night."

"At least 10," Jack said. "I wouldn't be surprised if girls go lesbian for her too." Jack and P-Mart laughed and gave each other a high five.

"Oh my gosh you guys, shut up!" I smiled embarrassingly at them. "Thanks though."

"No problem," Jack responded. "Now let's go get me a game!" He beamed at P-Mart.

"Wait, what about you guys tuxes?" Keaira added.

"We are going to surprise you ladies." Karnage said. He had been quiet for a while, as if he was thinking hard about something. "You'll find out the day of. C'mon, I know you girls like surprises! I hate them, but that's just me." He teased.

"Oh gosh. Knowing you guys you're probably going to have suits that look like the guys from Dumb and Dumber," Keaira replyed.

"How did you find out our idea?" P-Mart said with a sarcastic tone in his voice. Keaira rolled her eyes as she walked to a changing room.

After we all changed out of and bought our dresses, we decided to go grab some lunch. I was extremely hungry, and when I noticed there was an Asian food stand with no line at the end of the food court, I felt like I just won the lottery.

The others must've been really hungry too, as they got to the line faster than I did. Ugh. Now I have to smell all their food while I wait for mine. Lovely.

"So I forgot to mention this yesterday, but a lot of people that were watching our streams noticed we didn't have a clan name. We should come up with one so fans can join it!" Jack said excitedly.

"That's a good idea Jack!" P-Mart responded, and the rest of us agreed. I didn't even notice how we didn't have one when we played, but that's because I was still in awe I was in a virtual game.

"What should be our clan name be?" I asked.

"How about the Karnage Kids?" Karnage asked jokingly.

"Heck no! We want a good name, not a gay one!" Jack responded.

"I was joking dickhead! Geez Jack, you ever hear of sarcasm?"

"Guys quit." Tristan said, his face expressionless. "Why don't you guys call yourselves the Bananas?

Since Tristan spoke so emotionless all the time, it was really hard to tell when was kidding around. We all looked at him funny, (except Keaira, who did more of a stare then what we did) and he half-smiled and said, "Kidding."

"How about the Super Best Friends!?" Denecia beamed at us. P-Mart smiled but shook his head no.

"How about the Dream Team?" Keaira chimed in.

"No." P-Mart responded. "USA Basketball already made that one famous."

"How about the Stealth Clan?" Jack asked.

"No because that's not original enough." I replied.

P-Mart nodded and sat back in his chair. The rest of us for a while were giving off terrible ideas like "Life-Takers" and the "Gryffindorks" and the "Combat Killers." P-Mart had just sat back and was spinning a shoebox on his finger like a basketball. Keaira took notice of that too.

"Wow P-Mart that is pretty cool. Spinning that box around with shoes in there!"

P-Mart laughed. "No there nothing in this box…." Then his eyes grew wide. "I got it! Our clan name can be….The Box of Nothing!"

We all looked at him funny. Really? We are the most watched gamers in the world, and our followers are going to be a part of…A box of nothing? But the more I thought about it, the less and less sense it made. Which made it perfect.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" I shouted.

"That is so dumb….but in the good way." Keaira said.

"I like it!" Jack added.

"Same." Tristan mumbled.

Karnage didn't say anything at first. He looked at P-Mart and said "That….is…..the greatest name for anything ever!" He high fived P-Mart.

"Ok, since we knocked that out, P-Mart, remember I have a date with GameStop!" Jack said.

"That's not surprising, since you can't find a date with a girl." Karnage replied.

"Dude, Fuck off! Let's go P-Mart, please!" Jack asked, glaring at Karnage.

"Karnage, stop man. Enough with the insults," P-Mart said calmly. "Ok everyone. Let's go. Jack kept his promise."

Jack must've not really thought what game he wanted, because as he walked in, he had the look on his face like a kid going into a candy store with only one dollar, and the most annoying thing about that is the waiting game.

P-Mart and Jack really took their time because they were gone for seemed like an hour. The rest of us decided to sit outside the store on some benches because they took so long. _Geez if they're not out in 5 minutes I will grab them by their necks and drag them out._ I thought. I laughed at that image in my head.

All of a sudden we see Tommy and JJ running around, frantically looking for us. When they found us, they stopped for a minute to catch their breath, and then yelled for us to tell them where P-Mart was.

"What for? And why are you in such a hurry to see him?" Karnage questioned them.

"Z got attacked. We were hanging out with Bolt at the cabin when Z stumbled in with a black eye and a bloody side. He said that some random person asked for the E-Card and they didn't believe Z when he said he didn't know where it was, and that person attacked him."

I looked at Karnage, and we said at the same time, "Red."

JJ said something none of us were expecting, "No, that's the crazy thing. Red actually helped him back to the cabin. Both of them said that the person was kind of big and had a relatively deep voice with a slight accent."

I grew wide eyed. And I'm pretty sure that everybody was thinking of the same person I was, as they all looked at me. My head hurt, wondering how this person would even do something like this. There's no way possible.

"JJ?" Keaira asked, still glancing at me. "Where was Danny during all of this?"

I would've snapped at Keaira, for even implying my brother did this. He wasn't a fighter, or a thief. It didn't make any sense. It was hard, but I let JJ continue, though it took every fiber in me to do so.

"We don't know. We haven't seen him all day. He wasn't over at the Gazebo or in his room. In fact, I was hoping he'd be with you guys because…," JJ trailed off. He must've felt how lost and confused I was, as his tone was very sincere and didn't want to say what everyone else is thinking.

"We gotta find P-Mart," JJ continued, changing the subject. "He'll know what to do. Do you guys know where he is?"

"Yeah he's with Jack in the GameStop buying him a game. We got bored so we waited out here." Denecia replied.

"Ok. I'll grab him. As for the rest of you, were going to have to get back to the Annex ASAP," Tommy said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ok, that sounds good, as long as I don't have to sit in the back of your truck again Tommy," Karnage cheeked.


	4. Who Hurt Z?

Who Hurt Z?

We raced home as fast as we could, wondering how or what happened to Z. JJ and Tommy did sound pretty frantic back at the mall, and driving all the way out here to let us know must mean it's pretty serious.

But something didn't stick with me; that by process of elimination, they somehow think my brother purposely injured Z. Danny? Danny wouldn't hurt a fly even if it was thirsty for his blood. (Ok so maybe he would kill THAT, but you see where I'm getting at here don't you?) I know my brother better than anyone, and I'll take to my grave he didn't do this. I'm that sure of it.

We finally made it back to the Annex in what seemed like the longest, most apprehensive car-ride any of us have been in. It was dead silent for 95 percent of the trip, except for when JJ tried to ease the tension by telling us a story of how he got stuck up in a tree for 2 days. With the exception of P-Mart chiming in of how he found him (and even he sounded unenthusiastic and focused on getting back), nobody really talked at all. I'm sure finding out somebody attacking one of our cabin mates and who did it raced through everybody minds.

We all rushed to the cabin as quick as we could. We ran so fast that P-Mart almost busted down the door and all of us crashed into him. Let's just say that won't be on any of our Top 10 highlights anytime soon.

When we finally made it inside, we found Bolt and Red standing over Z as he laid on one of the couches. They were wrapping his arm up with bandages. He looked pretty bad. He had a gash on his head, a split lip, and a black eye. And I caught some scratches on his arm as they wrapped up. God, who would do such a thing?

"Jesus Z," P-Mart said as he kneeled next to him. "Jack! I'm going to need an ice-pack pronto! Go grab one from the emergency kit underneath me and JJ's bunk. And please hurry!"

"I'm on it!" Jack said without hesitation.

Z looked over at P-Mart, his good eye barely open, and he spoke with a slurred tone. "P-Mart…I was…..coming back…..when I'saw…..this guy wanted…E-Card…..our….E-Card…I told him….only you-" He started coughing blood. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a bunch of napkins and wiped the blood off his chin.

"Thanks Stef…" He said quietly. "He sounded…..like you….AHH!" Z winced as Jack put the icepack on his head. Jack soon directing his attention to P-Mart, and the rest of us followed. P-Mart is the unquestioned leader and problem solver, so all of knew better than to question him when he is hatching up a plan.

"Bolt. Where were you and Amy today?" P-Mart finally asked, surprisingly not about Danny.

Bolt thought for a moment. "Well we went over to the same mall you guys went to around noon-ish, then we went and bought our banquet dress and suit, then we went over and hung out with some of Amy's friends at the Science cabin. After that, they all went to one of the plays at the Theatre Cabin, which I told Amy I decided to come back to cabin and chill. Then as JJ, Tommy and I were playing a racing game when Red barges in holding Z and saying he's hurt. Then JJ and Tommy went to get you guys and here we all are."

P-Mart looked at him and nodded. He shifted his eyes and stared into the distance, pondering any thoughts about any other people. He sighed and said, "Karnage, Denecia. Go look around the Annex for Danny. He needs to be here. We got to talk to him." They both looked at me, and walked out.

"P-Mart?" I asked. I know it wasn't Danny who did this, something, telling me Danny is better than to beat someone up, let alone pulverize them, but if P-Mart believes it is, then I wouldn't know what to do with myself. "You don't think its him do you? That he did this?" I practically pleaded at him.

He looked at me and gave me a sincere and caring look, "I don't know Stef. We just got to find out who did this so they can be properly punished. I'm sure your brother didn't do this." He gave me an encouraging smile. I couldn't tell if he was just saying that to make me feel better, or if he actually meant it. Nonetheless I felt better, and said, "I know it wasn't him."

Red stepped in, "How can you be sure Stef? Danny's been gone all day. I really think it was him. He sounded like you, and Z told me that even though he had a mask on, his body shape was like your brother, and-"

"Shut the hell up! Nobody asked you, you pest! Keep your worthless-ass of an opinion to yourself!" Bolt snapped.

"Oh C'mon! We all know Danny did this! He's sneaky self wanted the E-Card so he generate all that money for himself! Greedy son of a b-"

SMACK! I couldn't hold back anymore. The anger Red was forcing me to feel was too much to hold back any longer. I gave him a nice slap to the face. (Actually more than nice, Besides, Red's lucky I didn't keep hitting him.) He stumbled back, shocked that I hit him, his eyes were daggers.

"Danny did not do this. So the best thing for you to do is to shut the hell up and leave Red! You say….one more word about my brother, and I will do much worse than one little slap! Do I make myself clear!?" I could tell I sounded really angry. Judging by the others reactions, I'd say they didn't see that coming.

Red glared at me, and I can honestly say his looks like that are intimidating. His eyes just filled with anger, and I actually was afraid of what he was going to do next. He leapt at me, but before he could do anything, Tommy and JJ held him back as he tried to free himself.

"Richard," P-Mart said as he stepped between them and me. "Maybe you should leave. Thanks for bringing Z back to the cabin, but we'll take it from here. Guys, lead him to the door please." They did, though it looked very difficult. Red seemed to be hard to constrain, KUDOS to Tommy and JJ for pulling that off.

"Stef I'm sorry he yelled at you like that. I'm sure you have a lot on your mind,"P-Mart said softly. "Maybe you should head upstairs and rest or getaway or something."

"But don't we have a stream tonight?" I asked. I didn't want to miss out.

"Yeah, but there's no real schedule for them. So don't worry. You don't have to be there if you don't want to. We'll find your brother, and the real person that did this." He smiled at me.

I returned a weak smile. "I guess a nap wouldn't hurt. Please wake me up when you guys do the stream tonight. I want to see how our viewers like the Box of Nothing."

P-Mart chuckled and said, "I will. And yeah, me too!"

I finally awoke on my own after a nice, dreamless sleep. The only not-so-awesome part about it was I drooled all over my arm, which is just a marvelous thing to wake up too. I looked around and saw Amy passed out in her bed. (And don't tell anyone, but she snores louder than my brother, and that alone is an understatement.) I then looked over at my phone, and the time was 10:45. Wow! P-Mart said he'd get me up in time for the stream! And he didn't! That is kind of strange, considering I could count on one hand how many times P-Mart hasn't come through. They don't happen often. Either way, I might as well head over to the Gazebo and see what they're up to, but not after an almost-midnight snack!

I was surprised to find everybody downstairs arguing. My brother was there, which was a relief to see him, as was Red and Mr. Field. I figured they were talking about the attack on Z, and I guessed right. I felt entitled to join the conversation, but I just wish I wasn't wearing my pajamas in front of everybody. I walked down the stairs to a series of "good evenings" and "what's up Snorlax?"

"Stefy! Tell these losers I am not a violent person! They think I injured Z or something," Danny practically pleaded at me, his usual laid back self looked as frantic as ever, which threw me off guard.

"Yes, Mr. Field, Danny has never been violent with anybody. I really don't believe he would attack someone. Or try to steal money for that matter."

Mr. Field sighed. "I appreciate you standing up for your brother Stefanie, but the fact remains that important dollars were on the verge of being stolen. And a boy has been injured in the process." P-Mart looked at him coldly, as if Mr. Field just made it sound like the money was more important than Z, which he did.

He went on, "I think that because Z will miss the banquet, so will you Daniel. I'm being nice, as I could easily send you home, but Richard insists on giving you another chance. And I do take in all of your words as well. Everyone has spoken well of you Daniel, however we must act quickly on something as delicate as this. I'm sorry but missing the banquet I feel is the easiest punishment I can issue."

Danny looked like he was going to argue, but knew better than to make his punishment worse.

"Mr. Duncan, Sir?" JJ asked. "Shouldn't we find a way to compensate Danny if the person who did this isn't him?"

"Great question Juan," Mr. Field responded. "I think we'll find that approach useful in the appropriate time." Ugh. Mr. Field's "professional" answers are starting to give me a headache, and I just woke up from a nap! C'mon man!

"Any more questions?" He asked, as if he was holding a press conference.

"Yeah I got one." Jack asked. "How come you always listen to your bitch ass of a son-mmm-" he got out before Karnage covered his mouth.

"Don't listen to him Mr. Field," Karnage said nervously. "Little Jackie Poo hasn't had his diaper changed today." Jack glared at him.

Mr. Field raised an eyebrow at them. "Well if that's all for now, I guess I must be going. Daniel? I'm going to need you to come over here in about 30 minutes so we can try to settle all of this. As for the rest of you, You kids best be getting ready for sleep. Have a goodnight, and I will see you at the banquet two days from now." He shot all of us an uneasy smile and then left.

"Danny, my father isn't here anymore. Why don't you just fess up? We all know you did it. I'm-"

CRACK! I guess Red must've thought I was kidding about doing worse than a slap, because the punch I gave him was a reminder that I wasn't. He slumped to the floor, clutching his jaw. He then looked at me, with that sheer anger face he had. He reached into his pocket, and I heard a click. He had brought out and opened a pocket-knife and pointed it at me. "You're dead, you psychotic bitch!" He stood and walked towards me.

That moment, from his threat of me and walking towards me froze time. I was aware of everything and everybody around me. I saw Red walking slowly towards me, his left wielding a knife; his right clutching his jaw. Yet I stayed still, as if all this was a photograph. I couldn't tell you what I felt, it was an expressionless and emotionless feeling I felt. I guess I go into this little moment when I feel like I'm being threatened. I felt something similar when I saw Jack in that Tutu in my first stream with the Virtual Reality helmets.

Time sped up when I saw Karnage tackle Red and pin him to the ground. "Nice try Reddo. I'm pretty sure your piggy-bank daddy wouldn't appreciate it if he caught you acting like a bad boy, now would he?" Karnage cheeked at him. He forcefully took the knife from Red's hand and smiled at him sarcastically.

Red shoved Karnage off of him and said just quiet enough for only the three of us to hear, "You two are lucky you are here. Because if we were anywhere but here, I would've killed you guys by now. I know your brother did that Stef, and I'll make sure you and him are sent home." His eyes had that "filled with anger" feel when I looked into them, and that made my spine tingle.

"Yeah, good luck with that Gingerbread. Tell us how that goes ok buddy?" Karnage said, mocking the whisper Red had just used. Red clenched his teeth and stormed out of our cabin door.

Karnage smirked as Red hurried out. He looked over at Danny, who gave him a silent nod and said to the rest of us, "Well I best be heading over to Mr. Field's office now. I hope Z gets better." We all looked at Z, who was still on the couch, but had fallen asleep.

"We all do Dan," P-Mart replied. "I'm sure Z will be fine. If you wouldn't mind stopping by the Medical Cabin and grabbing some bandages and rubbing alcohol please; we're running a little low."

Danny nodded and left. P-Mart then went and carried Z upstairs, with JJ, Denecia and Bolt helping him. The only people left in the living room was Keaira, who was on her Ipod like always, Jack, who was staring at the ground, visibly frustrated over all of this, Karnage, who was in the kitchen washing his hand, which I'm guessing got scratched by Red when Karnage tackled him, and myself. I had slumped over on one of the couches, still trying to take in what happened no less than 10 minutes before.

Karnage came back and sat on the opposite side of me, examining his hand. "My god! I'm pretty sure that carrot-top bit my freaking knuckle." Jack looked at him and started laughing at him, which you can probably guess how Karnage reacted to that. "You shut your fucking mouth queefball, or I'll knock your teeth in." He glared at Jack, and right on que Jack stopped laughing. Talk about intimidation. Karnage shook his head then looked over at me, and his expression changed to one of concern. "Hey Stef, you alright?"

I'm assuming I still had the emotionless look on my face when he asked that. I just nodded. That's all I could really bring myself to. It had been too much. In a matter of 30 minutes or so I went from relief from a nap, seeing my brother act beyond his normal defensive, and this…..kid almost killing me. It really made me just want to go back to sleep. Screw the stream. We can easily do the stream tomorrow. Ugh. I don't really mean that. My brain was just fried, and the right words just weren't racing through my head.

P-Mart came downstairs and said, "JJ and Bolt say goodnight. They both were pretty tired and said they're going to sleep." Denecia followed him and added, "Yeah, Z is out for the night too. At least that medicine knocked him out.

Keaira looked up at them, "What about the stream tonight? We need everybody don't we?"

P-Mart nodded. "I think I'm going to cancel tonight's stream, because I'm sure Stef's a bit overwhelmed. I think we all are." P-Mart said, his eyes wouldn't meet mine. He was looking at the ground. I noticed his expression, was not one of his normal calm and collect, but one of anger. And to tell you the truth, I've never seen P-Mart truly mad at anything. But I guess it was a blue moon out or something, because tonight was the strangest, scariest, and bizarre night I've ever had.

"P-Mart?" Jack asked. "Why don't we report Red or something? He always is messing with us and he was about to do something really bad."

"We can't Jack. Red is only at the Annex because his father wants his son close to him. He was never around when Red was a child, and I'm guessing he's spoiling him and purposely avoiding his flaws to kind of make up for not being there," Keaira chimed in. She had been listening to music for the past 20 minutes but wasn't doing her "jamming out" routine. She looked at me without that sarcastic smirk on her face, as if I was her friend.

"And Tomboy?" She asked. "That was a real nice punch you gave him." She actually sounded friendly to me. Between the two of us we usually poked fun at the other since we were total opposites. Which is why hearing her say that made me believe this was all a dream and I'm about to wake up.

"I know! Stef you punched him so hard I saw freckles fall off his face!" Jack practically yelled. "You liked turned into Stef Meaweather with that right hook! And how quick he hit the floor! He was totally going to cry!" Jack had to catch his breath. Now he's turning into a fangirl. By the way, umm….your character is the coolest one out of all of ours. And your hair is nice. Have you been losing weight? You look like a supermodel." He beamed at me.

I looked at him, then a smile came and I laughed, "Why thank you Jack! Aren't you turning into a nice little gentleman!" I ruffled his hair, or tried to because his hair was spiked up like usual. That boy needs some new hair gel, like right now.

"More like suck-up." Karnage cheeked. Jack gave a sarcastic chuckle and flipped him off. Yeah, a true gentleman.

My mood vastly was improving by the moment. "Hey!" We should totally play Just Dance. I mean there is a banquet tomorrow, why not have a little practice and fun?" Amy suggested. She had come down the stairs and was still in her pajamas. For the record I have never played this game before, and from the sheepish looks on the others, neither have they. But the game was on the shelf, and there was really nothing else to do.

None of us responded. Amy pleaded, "Oh C'mon you guys! Don't be shy! Bolt gave me that same look when I first asked him, and before you know it, we were having a blast. We're all going to be dancing a lot with other people when the ceremony is over with anyway, so why not!?"

"I heard that!" Bolt said as he came down the stairs. He was also in his sleep clothes. "Couldn't sleep. And I heard you guys were playing Just Dance. I'm in. That was awesome. Even though I stunk." Bolt chuckled.

Denecia beamed and jumped up "YES YES AND YEEESSS!" She looked over at the rest of us and yelled, "WE PLAY THAT IN THE MUSIC CABIN ALL THE TIME! IT'S REALLY FUN WHEN YOU PLAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS! YOU GUYS WILL LOVE THIS GAME! TRY IT! LIKE AMY SAID, WHY NOT?" I've never seen Denecia, (or anybody for that matter) to be this excited.

P-Mart smiled. "She's got a point you know? I'll give it a try."

"Yeah same here." Karnage said. "Just don't be surprised if I get a negative score or something. I am a terrible dancer."

"Oooh I gotta see this then," Jack responded as enthusiastic as ever. "I'm in too."

"Me three!" I exclaimed.

We then all looked over at Fangirl, who was giving us a questioning look. "Just Dance? Oh my god. I played that once at my cousin's birthday. And I was pretty bad." Denecia gave her a pleading look and pleaded, "If you play this with us, I'll be your friend forever! Please Keaira! Pretty Pllleeeaassee!?" Keaira smirked at her then put down her Ipod and stood saying, "I guess a couple rounds wouldn't hurt."

"Awesome! This is going to be really fun. Trust me!" Amy responded happily.

"More like embarrassing," Karnage said, but he laughed uneasy. "Why did I say yes to this again?"

Amy giggled and put the game into the console. She also put a plug-in camera over the TV so the game can read our dance moves. (Or my pathetic attempt at dance moves) We all took a couple minutes to read the instructions and put the game on shuffle mode, so the songs are all random. Then the games began.

And just like that, we all became the worst dance crew of all time.


	5. Truth

Truth

I woke up the next morning to a nice feeling of being shaken awake. We were playing that Just Dance game until 5 in the morning, and I could feel that it was early, since I could barely keep my eyes open. Usually I had no problems waking up early, unless I went overboard with the video games, like last night. When I finally got my eyes open enough to see Amy shaking me, I felt like throwing my pillow at her.

"Stef! We got an early Stream to do! Let's go!" She shouted at me.

"Ugh," I grumbled. "Have someone else go…..sleeping….." I barely got out.

"No! It is supposed to be all of us today. Mr. Field told us to," she added.

"Mmm…..What time is it?" I asked.

"7:30. He scheduled the stream in 30 minutes. And I know you're tired. I am too. But it's Mr. Field's call, not ours. Now please get up before I sit on you," she responded sternly.

I finally sat up, and rubbed the sleep outta my eyes. I looked up to see Amy completely dressed and ready to go, and the shine of the sun going through our window right onto my top bunk. No wonder Keaira picked the bottom bunk. Note to self: Find some curtains to fix that problem.

I got dressed and followed Amy downstairs down to our living room. I noticed Danny and Z already walking over to the door, equipment on and everything. Z was looking less pale and wounded, and had his head bandage taken off. That's a good sign. Kudos to Bolt and JJ for acting very fast on him, because Z seriously looked like a beat up piñata when we first saw him.

"You guys realize we don't have to go for another 30 minutes right?" Amy asked them.

"We know," Danny replied. "Z and I were going to do the Stream for you guys since we missed the last one. We talked to Mr. Field. He says that was fine. You guys can go back to sleep."

"You're sure you want to do the Stream by yourself bro?" I asked. "I mean it would be easier for you guys if I"-

"NO!" Danny practically yelled at me. "I mean, no Steffy. We will be fine by ourselves. We owe you guys one anyway." He smiled at me and put his hand on my shoulder. "You get some more sleep. You look like you need some Sis. We'll be back around 1 or 2, depending on how long it takes to get started up."

"If you say so Danny," I muttered. "I'll see you then." To be honest, it felt like a punch to the stomach to hear Danny say no that way. Almost as if he didn't want me to go with him.

Everyone else was eating breakfast at the kitchen table. They yelled a collection of "See you laters" to Danny and Z. I went and sat at the end of the table and leaned my head on my left arm.

"What's the matter Stef?" Karnage garbled; his mouth filled with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

"Nothing," I muttered automatically. To be honest there was something I was upset about. But I preferred to not bring it up.

"Are you sure?" Karnage replied, this time he spoke much clearer. He looked like he had just woken up too; his messy hair was even messier than normal. But he was looking at me like 'I know something's up. Just tell us.'

I caved. "Yes there is something on my mind. It's about…." I hesitated. Everyone else was looking at me now.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Jack asked. "I had this one nightmare where this giant cockroach ate me then turned me into a baby cockroach. I was so scared of myself."

The others turned their gazes towards Jack and everyone gave him a funny look. Karnage said with sarcasm, "Wow. That's a record Jack. Its only 8:45 and you've already grossed me the hell out. Thanks a-fucking-lot."

Jack glared at him. "I'm just saying Nightmares are bad and that Stef shouldn't think about them too much! Get off my back dude!" Karnage, for the first time since I had been here, apologized to Jack. "My bad man," I'm still tired fronm Just Dance last night. I didn't mean to snap at you." Jack gave him a nod as if to say 'It's all good'.

I got what Jack was saying and I smiled weakly at him. "Thanks for the advice Jack, but no, it's not a nightmare that's bugging me."

"It's Danny isn't it?" P-Mart asked from across the table. Good lord, can this dude read minds or something? That's exactly what was bugging me, and I nodded slowly.

I added, "It seems with each passing day that Danny is spending less time with me and hanging out more with….Z. I'm starting to believe that I did something to….make him mad." I started to choke up, which I RARELY do.

"No Stef." P-Mart said caringly. "Danny just has been adjusting to being in the Annex, just like you. He's found a good buddy in Z, just like you've been hanging out with us a lot."

Karnage chimed in, "It's not you at all Stef. You shouldn't be upset. P-Mart's right. Danny's just getting used to having friends as roommate. Z and him just hit it off, and maybe he doesn't realize that's affecting you. When he gets back, you should talk to him. He is your brother after all."

I nodded, but I still felt there was something more than that when it came to my brother.

"Your right Karnage," I said quietly. "Maybe I'm just over-thinking all this." That led me to ask, "Do you have a brother Karnage? Back home?"

Karnage put his hands together and leaned on them with his head, as if a million thoughts ran through his mind. He then said, "I….I do…." He looked at the others and then at me, his eyes were filled with absolute sadness.

"Oh my god," Keaira said in a complete shocked tone. "She doesn't know."

Ok, now I felt confused. "Know about what?" I asked puzzled. I looked around the table and everyone seemed to drop their heads, as if someone had just died.

"Stef," Bolt replied, and his eyes met mine. "Do you know what has happened to the U.S.A in the past 10 or so years?"

I didn't get what that had to do with Karnage's brother, but I responded, "Well, sort of. I know that America was going through rough times, with the economy and stuff, and that's why the Annex was created. To have kids come in and use technology to rebuild the economy in ways it's never been rebuilt before. That's why we Stream right?"

Bolt's serious face didn't change at all. "You are right about the Annex. But the United States, aren't the United States anymore. The west of what you know is the United States, like California, and Oregon, and all those states up to the eastern borders of Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico, are living like you expect Americans to live like. West America is what we call it now."

I was stunned. "What!? How?" was all I could get out. "Bolt, I don't understand."

Bolt sighed. "I had figured you wouldn't. Canadians aren't taught in their history classes about the economic collapse ten years ago. It has become a touchy topic probably all around the world. East America had the collapse. West side America seceded from the U.S when things started to go under. East America, well, has struggled mightily. Families had split. Government officials argued. Military power became unstable. Food became scarce after a horribly timed hurricane hit the Eastern coast. We had to settle to collecting rations of food."

"That's horrible!" I cried. "Guys, I'm sorry…I had no idea this was going on. No one told me." Then I realized something and asked, "How come you guys didn't tell me?"

P-Mart responded, "Stef, we still had an audience from our Streams to think about. We didn't want anybody to know we were from the East Coast. The whole world has practically stopped caring about us." I hadn't thought about that.

P-Mart went on, "I've mentioned before how JJ and I have known each other since we were babies right?" I nodded. After the huge riot that happened down here, we got separated from our parents, and we met up with Tommy, and his brother took us to live with him on Tommy's brothers' ranch in South Texas."

"Corpus Christi to be exact," JJ added. P-Mart nodded in agreement.

"Did you ever find out what happened to your parents?" I asked.

P-Mart sighed, "They were taken to adult labor fields. I never found my mom, but JJ did find his, and she told us to find shelter and to never go back there."

Bolt chipped in, "Those three eventually moved in with me when Tommy's brother passed away. He was killed when someone tried breaking in."

JJ added quietly, "Yeah that was rough. Tommy didn't accept that for a long time. He eventually found some closure on his own with his love of cars. His brother loved cars too."

My eyes started getting watery. All this time, I was in the peace of living a normal life at home, playing my games online with these people for years, and living a normal life with my parents and brother. Now here I am finding out just now how much pain all of them must have gone through. I thought this place was a nice camp where I could meet my online friends and help them. I never realized how serious, and the thought of that made me feel really shocked, and guilty, and upset.

Bolt continued, "The four of us continued to Stream with all of you until we had heard about the opening of the Annex by our Secretary of Technological Advances, Duncan Field. We figured that was the moment to breakthrough, so the four of us packed up our equipment and moved up here the week it was founded, which was 6 months ago."

"My brother got an invitation to come to the Annex to be in the Construction Cabin, but he didn't want to leave me on my own, so he made me go after hearing from Bolt that that's where you guys ended up. We were living in a children's foster home when our mother got separated from us. And here I am, collecting every dime I have to make sure my brother"- Karnage paused. "I wish my brother was here. I miss him every day."

Jack put his hand on Karnage's shoulder. "Don't worry Karnage, Mr. Field will be sending out invites when the Annex gets expanded at the end of summer. I'm sure he'll invite your bro." Karnage just smirked at Jack and said, "Thanks."

We talked about our past for about another hour, and I found out where the others were from. Jack was from Florida, Z and Keaira were from Ohio, Amy was from West Virginia, and Karnage was from Philadelphia. Jack, Amy, Keaira, and Z apparently were picked up by Tommy and the others just like Danny and I were.

"The four of us were all invited here once the Streams got really popular," Keaira chimed in. She then sighed and then looked down at her turned off Ipod. "My family was originally from the west but moved to the east side before things turned bad." She paused and then said "I miss them," as quiet as possible.

"I really hope all of this works out," Amy said, her hand squeezing Bolts tightly. "It's a very small chance that things can go back to the way they were before. I'm sure all of our relatives are worried sick about us." Everyone's heads dropped. And it was absolute silence for what seemed to be an eternity.

"Maybe it's fate," Jack finally said out of nowhere. "It's fate that all of us had played Combat Squad, met each other, and now here we are, in the Annex. It might sound crazy, but maybe…just maybe we were meant to come here, make some money and save the day. Guys, I know that what we're doing will save the country. And maybe I can find my mom and sister. I won't rest until I do."

I have come to the conclusion that Jack's best quality is his optimism, and even though he is the youngest in our group, for him to not only say that, but to truly mean it, is seriously the best thing that any of us could've said to break the silence and sadness and reflection we all felt.

P-Mart smiled at Jack. He fixed Jack's spiky hair and replied, "That's the spirit Jack. If you believe we can do it, then I believe too." Everyone's expressions turned a little brighter after that.

"Me three!" Amy giggled.

"Hey, make that four!" Bolt shouted. He held up his and Amy's clenched hands as if to say 'Who's with us?' The rest of us raised our hands too before we heard some loud, running footsteps from the outside. We all turned our heads to the front.

Right then, Tommy burst through the door and yelled, "Hey guys. Tristan and the other guys TP'd the Music cabin and I REALLY need to crap! Sorry!" He rushed over to the restroom and shut the door loudly behind him. All of us looked at each other and started to burst out in laughter; a busting of the gut that we all needed.

We laughed even harder when Denecia ran into the cabin with a huge thing of toilet paper in her hands yelling at us to tell her where Tommy is. We pointed to the bathroom, and that's when she asked me to stand on the opposite side of the door to get her "revenge." Denecia then handed me a roll of toilet paper and told me to run in front of Tommy still holding the paper.

"Wait," Karnage whispered. "I gotta get a picture of this!" He grabbed his cell phone and held it up.

We heard the toilet flush and heard Tommy walking to the restroom door. (For the record, I noticed how he did not wash his hands. That's gross!) When he opened it, we ran around him two or three times and right on cue, Karnage took a snapshot of the new "mummified" Tommy. I couldn't decide which was funnier, Tommy trying to break free of his "wraps", or the picture that Karnage took. I'm not gonna lie, I was laughing hysterically with the others! That is, until we saw an unpleasant familiar face standing at our door: Red.

"Hey. Clean this shit up and go to the auditorium. My dad wants to speak with all of you," He said in that cold tone of his. Danny and Z walked in right as Red said that.

"We're not going anywhere with you asshole," Danny said to him.

Red gave an evil grin; a grin that made me have goose bumps. He then pointed to Denecia and Tommy and said, "Not you two. You two are going to go over to the Music's Cabin and cleaning up that mess."

Karnage raised his hand. "I have a question for you Red-O."

Red snapped. "The fuck do you want?"

"Have you always been a splooge sponge? Or did you get that from hanging out with all those guards at your mansion?" Karnage looked at him questionably, and the rest of us were holding back our laughter.

Red walked up to him smiling, "That's cute. Real Cute"-POW! He punched Karnage in the stomach and Red took off running yelling back at us.

"That…son of a bitch…" Karnage barely got out. "I can't wait until I get to beat the stuffing out of him…"

"Not now Karnage," P-Mart replied. "We better head over to see what Mr. Field wants."

As we made our way to the Auditorium, we noticed that the Theatre Cabin had been working on the lights for the banquet tomorrow. And the Art Cabin had painted the Auditorium blue, with the words "CONGRADULATIONS" written across the entrance in gold letters. It took my breath away, and it looked much better than that it was before; gray and rusted. We saw Mr. Field at the entrance and made our way over to him.

"Hello kids!" He said with a smile. "Did you get your banquet dresses and suits all together?"

"Yes we did!" Amy said with a grin. Keaira, Bolt and I nodded our heads in agreement. We turned to looked at the others, and P-Mart, Jack, JJ, and Karnage's faces all went wide-eyed and pale (including JJ, and that's saying something).

"Umm….yeah about that….," P-Mart stammered out.

"You don't have them?" Keaira asked raising an eyebrow. What happened to 'Oh were gonna surprise you girls?' She said in a mocking tone.

"We just….forgot? Hehe…" Jack said innocently; his eyes looked really sad and youthful.

The rest of us didn't buy it. Nice try though Jack. Even his 12 year old self couldn't weasel his way out of this.

"Forgot!? Oh my god! In case you bozos have forgotten this as well, the banquets TOMORROW!" Keaira practically shouted at them.

"Look Mr. Field, could we please go with Tommy over to the mall and buy suits?" P-Mart pleaded. "I promise we won't take long."

Mr. Field laughed and patted P-Mart and Jack on their shoulders. "Ha-ha! You guys are too funny. Let Tommy finish with what he's doing then you guys go ahead and leave. But please hurry back now."

The four of them sprinted down the trail shouting "We will!" simultaneously. The rest of us followed Mr. Field into the Auditorium. The Auditorium is in the dead center of the Annex, with all 24 cabins circled around it. The thing I thought that was kind of cool when I first came here was, I could only start seeing the Auditorium when we stepped foot into the Annex.

He said he was going over a "rehearsal" of what he wanted us to do when he announces us as the cabin that raised the most money. Oh and he also threw in that the banquet will be broadcasted all over the world. It turns out that America isn't the only country interested in the Annex. Well then, that's no biggie. What's there to be nervous about when practically the whole world was going to be watching you on a stage for 30 minutes?

"Ugh. I am so beat!" Keaira sighed and she collapsed on the couch next to Denecia. Denecia and Tommy were waiting for us to get back, and I felt kind of bad we made them wait 3 hours. But with the whole getting suits thing, plus restarting what we were supposed to do when the guys got back, made the rehearsal go longer than expected.

"Well, since you guys are back, I will see you guys at the banquet tomorrow!" Denecia said. They required her to move back into the Music cabin (which really sucks, since I really liked having her as a cabinmate).

"Later Denecia!" P-Mart said with a toothy grin.

She giggled and said "Bye!" returned his smile and left.

"Dude, she totally digs you," Jack blurted out at P-Mart, which then P-Mart got a sudden interest at staring at the ground. The others smiled at him.

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep," P-Mart muttered. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Yeah, we all better hit the bunks. We got a long day tomorrow," JJ added. Everyone gave a tired nod and went upstairs. It was just then that I felt I needed to tell Karnage something, and I pulled him aside and waited for the others to go to their rooms.

"Hey, I never said this earlier, but, I'm sorry about your brother. I didn't know about the whole…..you know," I trailed off. I really didn't want to say too much again. Karnage looked like he understood where I was getting at and just said, "It's alright. You didn't know." He opened the guys room door.

"Karnage?" I asked.

He stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

"We are going to fix all this. And you will be with your brother again before you know it." I didn't just say that to be nice. I truly meant every word. I hope Karnage realized that too.

He gave a small smile and said, "If you say so Stef, then I believe you. Have a goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow." And he closed the door.

For the first time, I felt as if this "honoring" at the banquet on national TV would be the first step, to change everything. My friends deserve this more than anyone, and I went to sleep fully knowing that this would not be the last step either.


End file.
